Mirror Image
by voyageria
Summary: Short alternateunseen scene from Galaxy's Child, where the real Dr. Leah Brahms meets her holographic duplicate prior to Geordi's entrance to the holodeck.


Mirror Image  
  
Short Geordi/Leah Brahms fic, with an alternate (unseen) scene from Galaxy's Child. I always thought that the holographic Leah from Booby Trap, with the personality simulation in place, should have actually been able to respond to the "real" Dr. Brahms and set her straight about Geordi before he arrives.  
  
"Leah" is the simulation, while "Brahms" is the real Leah Brahms.  
  
****  
  
"Every time you touch these engines . you touch me," said the holographic simulation of Dr. Leah Brahms, looking down at the design console with a wistful expression while the real Dr. Leah Brahms watched from the holodeck arch, her embarrassment slowly giving way to a white-hot anger as the possibilities of why this simulation was created ran through her mind. Then the simulated Leah looked up from the console, seeing her doppleganger, and blinked in complete surprise.  
  
"You're me!" she said, looking over her duplicate. "What the-."  
  
"All right . who created you?" Brahms demanded, ascending the steps to face her holographic clone, her temper flaring. "Was it that depraved Geordi LaForge?" she asked, rational thought fleeing as she suddenly considered the reasons for it being created, her voice rising. "Tell me who created you before I shut you and this whole thing down! Now!"  
  
Leah looked aside for a moment, thinking, and despite her anger, Brahms watched with fascination as she saw "herself" pause slightly, looking inward with a thoughtful expression on her face . something that until now she had only seen herself do in a mirror or a video recording.  
  
"Yes, Geordi created me, but it's not what you think ." Leah began. "He needed my help."  
  
"Help? With what? His non-existent sex life?" Brahms asked scornfully, unconvinced, as she stormed down the stairs, oblivious to the lab and to the half-completed Galaxy-class space-frame sitting outside the lab's windows. "This creeps me out. If he's used you as a sex toy, that's tantamount to rape .." She turned back and began to pace. "So help me, I'll kill him . I swear, if he abused you, I'll toss him out the nearest airlock without a suit .."  
  
But Leah was shaking her head, denying Brahms accusation: "No, no," she protested, throwing up her hands. "Oh heck, I don't even know what to call you."  
  
She sighed. "The ship was trapped in an energy-draining field two years ago. He needed my . well, our, expertise to keep the warp core running . or else they all would've died .."  
  
Leah moved closer, stepping around the console and down to the lab floor, sitting on the middle step and smoothing the folds of her forest-green skirt as she remembered. "They would have all died of radiation exposure. But we . Geordi and I, kept the engines and the shields running long enough so we could find a solution to get them out. Don't blame him for creating me."  
  
Brahms suddenly felt sick to her stomach. It all seemed so clear now . how Geordi was able to find out about the planned design improvements and incorporate them into the Enterprise's warp core, why he had been treating her so nicely since she arrived . and then it occurred to her with a sudden sense of dread, and she knew: Geordi had fallen in love with her . her holographic reproduction, nonetheless, but almost the same as her.  
  
"Oh God . you did tell him that I was married to Richard?" Brahms asked worriedly, watching Leah's reaction to her question. "Didn't you?"  
  
"No, I didn't," Leah admitted after a moment, a touch of sorrow in her voice. "He had enough to worry about, and it was painfully clear that he was attracted to me . I have your personality, and I know that you wouldn't hurt him like that. Not when he had so much else to deal with."  
  
She motioned for Brahms to sit down on the steps next to her. "He's a nice guy, Leah, once you get to know him. Have you talked to him at all since you got here?"  
  
"Not very much," Brahms admitted ruefully as she joined her counterpart, her anger slowly changing to regret as she remembered the events of the last few days since she came aboard. "Mostly putting him down at every opportunity and blowing up at him the rest of the time."  
  
Leah nodded her head knowingly. "You're taking out your frustrations with Richard on him, aren't you?" she asked.  
  
"How do you .?" Brahms sputtered, taken off guard by Leah's comment.  
  
Leah laughed, nudging Brahms arm lightly. "You're me, remember? I know how you react . how you think. But most important, I know how you feel. You're stuck in a marriage that isn't working, and you've been wanting out for the last three years .."  
  
"Five now .." Brahms added.  
  
"All right, five! And I'll bet it's no better living with him now than two years ago. But without a definite reason to leave Richard, we haven't had the courage to. And then along comes Geordi .."  
  
Her head figuratively spinning, Brahms suddenly found herself wanting to know more. "So you got to know him much better than I have. Tell me more."  
  
Leah thought for a second. "Well, you know he's really attractive, even despite that VISOR he's wearing. He can talk intelligently with us about theoretical engineering, can cook very decent Italian, and has a very nice set of shoulders .."  
  
"Nice set of shoulders?" Brahms asked, taken aback.  
  
Leah shrugged. "I started to give him one of our patented shoulder rubs . don't look at me that way! They were facing immanent death in 30 minutes . it was the least I could do for him. So . you meet Geordi . and from me, he thinks you're very attractive, finds out you have some things in common, and realizes that he would love to get to know you better . and you start to wonder, as I did, if maybe there's something better out there than Richard. I know that, because that's what I felt after I got to know him.  
  
"But then you realize that you're married, with a shaky marriage, and you're angry with yourself for even contemplating Geordi that way . so you take it out on him instead and hold him at arm's length," Leah finished.  
  
"I've treated him poorly the last few days," Brahms admitted. "And you're right; it's from the marriage. Richard and I are almost separated. In fact, I'm waiting to hear back from him in a couple of days over subspace . but I'm not ready for someone new. It's too soon, and I'd just hurt Geordi in the process."  
  
"So give it some time," Leah said. "Geordi will still be there, and in the meantime, you can begin mending some fences with him." Leah paused, and Brahms recognized that her duplicate had that expression she always had when she was about to give someone advice . the expression that said: "this is so obvious, I can't understand why you don't see it."  
  
"Sis . I'm a hologram, and he isn't. I can't leave the holodeck, or love him." She looked over to Brahms then. "But you can do that for both of us. Give him a chance."  
  
Brahms nodded. "He does seem like a nice guy. and I know he can cook," she said, managing a smile.  
  
"Let me guess . fungili?" Leah asked with a wry smile, and Brahms laughed. "He found that out from me," Leah admitted.  
  
Brahms suddenly found herself grateful she had run this holodeck program. "Computer," she asked. "Where is Commander LaForge?"  
  
"Commander LaForge is in corridor section 15J approaching this holodeck," said the ship's computer.  
  
Brahms stood, a wicked grin on her face. "You know . I think I'm still going to give him heck for creating you . but then I'll give him a chance."  
  
"Thanks," Leah said, as Brahms helped her up. "Trust me. He'll treat you far better than Richard ever could."  
  
Brahms looked toward the holodeck door, "Okay . now, I'll need your help on this . go stand up there before he comes in and do that 'whenever you touch these engines, you touch me' bit when he comes in . where did you get that by the way? I'm not that much of a romantic . am I?"  
  
"Oh yes you are," Leah said, matching Brahms' wicked grin. She barely got back in place before the holodeck doors hissed open:  
  
"Every time you touch these engines . you touch me .." 


End file.
